A Rule of Queens (Book #13 in the Sorcerer's Ring) by Morgan Rice Read Free Book Online

stared out, baffled, at the sea, wondering at the
mysteries of life.
    How could a son have been given to him, only to
have been taken away? How could someone he loved so much disappear from him, be
snatched away with no warning and no chance of return?
    Life, Thor felt, was too relentlessly cruel.
Where was the justice in it all? Why couldn’t his son return to him?
    Thor would give anything— anything —walk
through fire himself, die a million deaths—to have Guwayne given back to him.
    Thor closed his eyes and shook his head as he
tried to blot out the image of that burning volcano, the empty bassinet, the
flames. He tried to block out the idea of his son dying such a painful death.
His heart burned with fury, but most of all, sorrow. And shame, for not
reaching his little boy sooner.
    Thor also felt a deep pit in his stomach as he tried
to imagine his encounter with Gwendolyn, his telling her the news. She would
surely never look him in the eyes again. And she would never be the same person
again. It was as if Thorgrin’s entire life had been snatched away from him. He
did not know how to rebuild, how to pick up the pieces. How does one, he
wondered, find another purpose for living?
    Thor heard footsteps and felt the weight of a
body beside him as the boat shifted, creaking. He looked over and was surprised
to see Conven take a seat at his side, staring out. Thor felt as if he hadn’t
talked to Conven in ages, not since his twin’s death. He welcomed seeing him
here. As Thor looked at him, studied the sorrow in his face, for the first
time, he understood. He really understood.
    Conven didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to.
His presence was enough. He sat beside him in sympathy, brothers in grief.
    They sat there in silence for a long time, no
noise but the sound of the wind ripping through, the sound of the waves lapping
gently against the boat, this small boat of theirs adrift in an endless sea,
their quest to find and rescue Guwayne taken away from all of them .
    Finally Conven spoke:
    “Not a day goes by when I don’t think of
Conval,” he said, his voice somber.
    They sat again silence for a long time. Thor wanted
to reply, but he could not, too choked up to speak.
    Finally, Conven added: “I grieve for you for
Guwayne. I would have liked to see him become a great warrior, like his father.
I know he would have been. Life can be tragic and cruel. It can give only to
take away. I wish I could tell you I have recovered from my sorrow—but I have
not.”
    Thor looked at him, Conven’s brutal honesty
somehow giving him a sense of peace.
    “What keeps you living?” Thor asked.
    Conven looked out at the water for a long time,
then finally sighed.
    “I think it was what Conval would have wanted,”
he said. “He would have wanted me to go on. And so I go on. I do it for him.
Not for myself. Sometimes we live a life for others. Sometimes we don’t care
enough to live it for ourselves, so we live it for them. But, I am coming to
realize, sometimes that must be enough.”
    Thor thought of Guwayne, now dead, and he
wondered what his son would have wanted. Of course, he would have wanted Thorgrin
to live, to take care of his mother, Gwendolyn. Thor knew that logically. But
in his heart, it was a hard concept to grasp.
    Conven cleared his throat.
    “We live for our parents,” he said. “For our
siblings. For our wives and sons and daughters. We live for everybody else. And
sometimes, when life has beaten you down so much that you don’t want to go on
for yourself, that has to be enough.”
    “I disagree,” came a voice.
    Thor looked over to see Matus coming up on his
other side, sitting and joining them. Matus looked out at the sea, stern and
proud.
    “I believe there is another thing we live for,”
he added.
    “And what is that?” Conven asked.
    “Faith.” Matus sighed. “My people, the Upper Isle
men, they pray to the four gods of the rocky shores. They pray to the gods of
the water and wind and